Clans of the Mountain
by Darkfox - Warriors
Summary: Follow the adventures of a SnowClan apprentice, Icepaw. His life has changed since he received a dream, when he was only nine moons old: after that event, it was just a succession of journeys, battles, dangers and sacrifices. But he was never alone: he has his sister, Whitepaw, and his best friend, Shadowpaw with him... and a mysterious she-cat, Silkpaw too. What will happen next?


Icepaw never had a dream like that. It looked… so real. He was walking out of the camp, and the mountain seemed even colder and wilder than the one out of the dream realm. Suddenly, warmth started hitting his whiskers: a fireball was floating in the air. Every single hair on Icepaw's pelt bristled. _Don't fear fire_ , a voice whispered in his ear, making him almost jump out of his fur. _Fire will bring happiness and aid to you_ , the voice added. How could fire bring happiness and aid? If it meant real fire, Icepaw was sure real fire was a scary thing. He never saw a fire, and never wanted to see one. If it meant FireClan instead… the Clans always were rivals! How could an enemy Clan bring him happiness? He was distracted, when the fireball in front of him exploded, hurling him away. _But also pain_ , the voice whispered, as the apprentice heavily landed on the snow. He woke up heavily breathing: he could almost still feel fire burning the tips of his whiskers and the pain in his bones. «What the hell is wrong with you, Icepaw?», a familiar voice hissed. The silver tom turned to see Whitepaw's muzzle coming out of her bushy, white tail. Her blue eyes shined. «S-Sorry, that's nothing», Icepaw answered. The white she-cat glared at him and fell asleep again. The silver tom took a long sigh and came out of the den: Whitepaw was his sister, but she rarely treated him well. The apprentice den was built in a bush at the left side of the camp; the camp was placed on a hill with an icy rock on top, the High Rock, where Snowstar, the leader, lived and called Clan Meetings. Next to the apprentices' den there was another bush, the warriors' den, and then other two bushes at the opposite side of the camp, the elders' and queens' den. The only cats awake were Kingpelt, a senior warrior, Longpelt, the deputy, and Snowstar. They were all talking to each other. Longpelt - an extremely thick-furred tom with amber eyes - called Icepaw with a gesture of his tail. «Go on a patrol with Kingpelt, your mentor and the next cat who wakes up», the deputy told him. The apprentice nodded and started waiting next to Kingpelt. Kingpelt was a pale ginger tom, his fur was extremely thick and sleek and his eyes were piercing and blue. In the sun rays, his fur shined like gold… too bad he was often rude and unpleasant. Or at least, Icepaw always saw him like that. Mosspelt, Icepaw's mentor, came out of the warriors' den some moments after. He looked like Longpelt - they were brothers - but his fur was darker, and didn't have any stripes, unlike the deputy's. Kingpelt greeted him bowing his head, and soon after Whitepaw came out of the apprentices' den stretching. Longpelt called her and mewed something in her ear. She narrowed her eyes, annoyed, and twitched her ears, but just like any other cat in the Clan she respected the deputy a lot. Icepaw often heard her complaining and telling she would've liked to have him as a mentor instead of Kingpelt. «Good», the pale ginger tom mewed and rose to his paws. Icepaw, Mosspelt and Whitepaw followed him as he padded through the camp and started climbing down the hill. «What can you smell?», Mosspelt asked, distracted, and Icepaw immediately opened his mouth and rose his head and ears, alert. A weak scent of lemming came through the dirt and snow, some steps to his left. They were in a part of their territory, near to the StoneClan border, where there weren't any trees, so looking for squirrels and birds would've been useless. He also scented a mouse near some juniper bushes. «Lemming and mouse», Icepaw answered. «Good», Kingpelt commented. «Now try catching something», Mosspelt class="Apple-converted-space" The apprentice crouched, eager to prove his ability in hunting, and concentrated. He could clearly hear a lemming's feet drumming under the snow. He started padding towards the sound's direction, carefully putting a paw under the other, slowly and silently, until he could even hear the little rodent's heartbeat. "Now", he told himself, and slammed his forepaws on the snow. The lemming, terrified, flew in the air, and the apprentice got it halfway, breaking its neck. «Great!», Mosspelt praised him, but Kingpelt wasn't looking. "Oh, sorry if you're too important and busy to watch a simple apprentice hunting", Icepaw thought, narrowing his eyes annoyed. But then, the golden warrior turned his head and looked at Mosspelt. «I can clearly smell a cat, but it doesn't have any distinctive scent», he mewed, and ran away. Mosspelt and Whitepaw followed him, leaving Icepaw with his lemming. The apprentice quickly buried the prey and followed them.


End file.
